Moral Responsibility

1. Role Responsibility The duties one has for doing various things which come with occupying a certain role in society • Examples: a sea captain is responsible for the safety of his ship; a driver is responsible for the safety of his passengers and other road users; parents are responsible for the upbringing of their children; a clerk is responsible for keeping the firm’s accounts. • Role responsibility is prospective, that is, it concerns what one should do in the future. • The objects of role responsibility are not particular actions, but kinds of actions, typically involving care and attention to something or someone. • Roles are determined in various ways: Given/Delegated The Head of Department gives me responsibility for Open Days; Matthew asks me to look after his cat while he’s on holiday Tacit/Assumed Parenthood; training as a medical doctor; being a citizen/moral agent Taken Accepting a job; Encountering someone injured, and taking responsibility for getting her to hospital.